The Gospel According to St. Thomas Leavitt

I have a great friend by the name of Thomas Leavitt. I met Thomas when I served as the inaugural chair of the National Lavender Green Caucus of the Green Party of the United States. Thomas had already been involved with the Caucus for some time, and he served as an officer of the caucus as well. Over the years, Thomas has been a kind voice and loving supporter of my work. He is someone that I admire for his politics, his compassion, the way he moves through the world, and for the way that he cares for his family.

In my recent post Fading Hope or Reality Check?, I questioned the media spin on Obama's recent poll numbers, and, of course, spoke some damn truth about the Republican Party aka the GOP (Grand Old Party). My friend Thomas made a comment on the post that I thought was as true as gospel. I also thought it needed to be brought front and center. Thomas said:

"The Republican Party is good at just one thing: fucking things up, and they're doing their damndest to fuck up Obama's presidency. Fuck the truth: if it takes making people think Obama's an illegal alien secret Muslim communist Maoist fascist tool of the international Jewish-Communist crypto-conspiracy to lower his numbers, then that's what we'll tell him (never mind the self-contradictory nature of half the accusations). We'll put words in people's mouths that they never said."

And he ain't never told a damn lie. The GOP will spin sunshine into shit and shit into rainbows in order to reclaim power or keep justice from taking place. The Republican Party is quite literally watching their entire power structure crumble around them. For more than 20 years they watched their star ascendant, abused the power that they amassed, acted with complete license in their public and personal affairs, and when their self-serving policies, dismantling of the social safety net, and lies turned in on themselves, the party imploded (and continues to implode...see Governor Sanford, Governor Palin, and assorted philandering Senators and Congresspersons indicted on fraud and other abuse of office charges).

The GOP has not yet learned the lesson that if they ACTUALLY adhered to the basic philosophy of their party (small government, personal responsibility, low taxes, strong defense) and did not stray from those things, their message would resonate solidly with people. Please note, I think their core philosophy is soulless and lacks community responsibility, but I understand it. But, at least, if they stuck to that, it would lead to many less regressive decisions than those that they have made. And let's be clear. I don't believe that Cheney and half of those Republican Party actually are against queer marriage, hate black people, despise the poor, or are happy as a bug in a rug to send young people off to die in wars. What I do believe is that they have no problem with doing ANY of those things if the outcome is higher personal profits, greater politician gain, and more corporate earnings. It comes down to such a amoral hedonism that it makes me want to beat them with their Torahs and Bibles (cuz the Orthodox and Conservative Jews in elective office are just as regressive and heinous as the Conservative Christians). I truly believe that while Cheney was sending troops to die in Iraq he felt badly...but he wanted power and personal gain to such a point that he was willing to sit with and live with the guilt over sending folks to die in a senseless war.

The crime of ambivalence and choosing evil as an ok trade off for personal gain and privilege is more heinous to me than someone like Fred Phelps, who is a hideous excuse for a human being, but he honestly and truly believes the hate he spouts and the way of life he espouses. He isn't try to gain power, he is trying to save souls the way he believes they need to be saved. I can forgive him his idiocy while condemning him for the impact his idiocy has on the communities he targets. I can not forgive Cheney, Rove, Boehner and the rest that choose opportunism and expedience over the lives of the working class, queer folks, women, and children.

In the end, it is just as dear Thomas states, "Fuck the truth: if it takes making people think Obama's an illegal alien secret Muslim communist Maoist fascist tool of the international Jewish-Communist crypto-conspiracy to lower his numbers, then that's what we'll tell him (never mind the self-contradictory nature of half the accusations)."

I only hope that finally...FINALLY...America has grown hip to the social warfare and identity assassination politics of the GOP and the deep seated greed and megalomania that their lies are attempting to cover up.